Attorney General William Barr on Thursday painted a sympathetic picture of President Trump's actions and criticized the media for its coverage of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Barr spoke about Mueller's probe into whether President Trump tried to obstruct justice, saying it's "important to bear in mind the context" of what Trump did because he faced an "unprecedented situation" and had to deal with "relentless speculation in the news media about the presidency's culpability" even though "there was, in fact, no collusion."

Mueller in his report acknowledges, according to Barr, that there is "substantial evidence to show that the president was frustrated and angered by his sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency." This, Barr suggests, is "evidence of non-corrupt motive," which "weighs heavily against any allegation that the president had a corrupt intent to obstruct the investigation."

The attorney general had previously told Congress that Mueller did not make a determination about whether Trump committed an obstruction of justice offense but that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded there wasn't enough that he did, pointing to this evidence he says shows the president did not have a corrupt motive. Upon taking questions, Barr objected to the idea that he was being "generous" to the president with this description. Brendan Morrow

Federal health employees who met coronavirus evacuees at two California military bases earlier this year did not receive proper training in safety protocols until five days after their arrival, a whistleblower said.

The New York Times obtained a portion of the whistleblower's complaint, which said the workers also did not have adequate protective gear. The whistleblower is described as being a senior leader at the Department of Health and Human Services, and submitted their complaint to the Office of the Special Counsel.

The whistleblower said the workers were "improperly deployed" to March Air Reserve Base and Travis Air Force Base. They went into the quarantined areas where the evacuees were being processed, and then would walk around other areas of the base. At least one worker stayed at a nearby hotel and flew back home on a commercial flight, and only a few knew that they needed to monitor their temperature three times a day.

The whistleblower said that throughout the operation, they fielded "panicked calls" from deployed staffers who "expressed concern with the lack of HHS communication and coordination." When senior Trump administration officials later heard their concerns, the staffers were "admonished," the whistleblower said, and had their "mental health and emotional stability questioned." The staffers believe the administration is trying to "whitewash" what happened, the whistleblower continued, and won't listen to their health and safety concerns.

Travis Air Force Base is in Solano County in Northern California. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first known instance of a person in the United States testing positive for coronavirus without traveling abroad or having known exposure to someone with the virus. The patient lives in Solano County, and the CDC said it is possible they came in contact with a person who caught coronavirus abroad and came to the United States infected. Catherine Garcia

A Syrian government airstrike Thursday in the country's Idlib province killed at least 29 Turkish soldiers, a Turkish official said.

Rahmi Dogan, the governor of Turkey's Hatay province, said additional troops were injured, while the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll higher, at 34. Local media reports that after the airstrike, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called an emergency meeting of his top security officials.

Syrian rebels backed by Turkey have control of some territory in Idlib, and the Syrian government, with the support of Russia, is trying to retake those areas. Turkey began sending more troops to Idlib earlier this month, in an attempt to slow down the Syrian army's advance across the province. The intense fighting has sparked Syria's latest humanitarian crisis, as hundreds of thousands of displaced people are now fleeing toward the Turkish border. Catherine Garcia

Caity Weaver at The New York Times has laid out a fascinating "royal Instagram mystery" proposing that something fishy is afoot when it comes to the follower counts of Prince William and Kate Middleton's @KensingtonRoyal account, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's newer @SussexRoyal account.

"From the outset, @SussexRoyal was runaway popular," Weaver writes, adding that within a month and a half, Harry and Meghan's account amassed as many followers as @KensingtonRoyal had managed in four years. And yet "it seemed, from the outside, that no matter how many followers @SussexRoyal gained, it could never quite catch up" with William and Kate's account.

Coincidence? Or is @KensingtonRoyal "receiving follower boosts in the form of bots" to keep it ahead?

Read more at The New York Times. Jeva Lange

The Lizzie McGuire reboot might be dead in the water, but that isn't stopping Disney+ from going forward with its other nostalgic revivals.

On Thursday, the streamer announced it will be bringing back the animated sitcom The Proud Family with its original voice cast, per Good Morning America. The show, which initially ran from 2001-2005, doesn't have a premiere date yet, although it does have a new name: The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

"In our minds, the show never really went away, as we still had tons of stories left to tell," producers Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar said in a joint statement. Jeva Lange

Coronavirus fears sent U.S. markets into correction territory on Thursday, down more than 10 percent from record highs after days of losses, reports CNBC.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday down almost 1,200 points, or over 4.4 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were each off 4.4 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.

President Trump has sought to reassure investors that the coronavirus outbreak, which has affected countries around the world, is only a small worry for the stock market. He said Wednesday the market would recover, claiming the U.S. is "really prepared" for the virus and blaming Democratic presidential candidates for the dip. The Dow has lost more than 3,000 points this week.

The slip is the fastest the stock market has ever dipped into correction territory, per Deutsche Bank. The next-fastest decline occurred in 2018. The Dow and S&P 500 are on pace for their worst weekly performance since 2008, notes CNBC.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be looking for a bump from the Yang Gang.

The Bloomberg campaign has been seeking an endorsement from entrepreneur and former 2020 candidate Andrew Yang and even floated him as a potential running made, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Aides to the former New York City mayor reached out to discuss ways the two entrepreneurs-turned-politicians could work together as Mr. Bloomberg seeks the Democratic nomination," the Journal writes, although Yang reportedly "didn't commit to join forces."

The Bloomberg campaign told the Journal that Yang isn't being seriously considered to be his running mate, and a senior Bloomberg aide denied to NBC's Josh Lederman that he never was.

Since dropping out of the race, Yang has been a contributor for CNN. He recently took part in a CNN discussion about Bloomberg's debate debut, during which he said the former mayor came across as "lethargic and uninterested" and was not "properly prepared." Yang also theorized Bloomberg has no one on his team "who could be like, 'That was terrible. This is going to potentially damage your campaign to a very, very high degree.'"

Meanwhile, Bloomberg in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday said he'd "consider everybody" to be his running mate should he win the Democratic nomination, but when asked who he's talked to, he shot back, "Why would I tell you?" Brendan Morrow